That’s because Keyshawn Ashford is the best player at Woodside Priory, while his father is the coach at Eastside Palo Alto Phoenix Academy.

Kickoff is at 3 p.m. in Portola Valley, with a rematch at the end of the month in East Palo Alto.

“There’s always that anticipation that it’s my father on the other side of the field,” Keyshawn said. “But it’s the same mission, the team has the mission — to keep winning.”

“Obviously I don’t cheer for him when we play him,” his father said. “And after the game I will tell him, ‘Good job,’ and, ‘I love you.’ I want him to always do good, but of course I want to win.”

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Stephen Ashford, who played wide receiver at College of Marin, tries to keep out of the way of other coaches when it comes to his son and football, though he keeps a close eye.

It began in Pop Warner, where Keyshawn spent his first year as a Tiny-Mite lineman.

“I saw him out there getting hit and he didn’t cry,” his father said.

He added: “When they would do their sprints, he would just beat everybody. And in my mind, I was like, ‘I wonder what would happen if we would run with the ball?’ ”

The next year, everything clicked into gear and neither father nor son has looked back.

“I’m glad that he has surpassed me as far as his athletic ability,” his father said. “I was always fast and had hands, but he’s way faster than me. So, I like that.”

“Me and my dad grew up really hard on football,” said Keyshawn, who has two older sisters. “He taught me everything about it. My dad has become a big impact in my life over football. He let me see that football is not just about hitting someone, it’s about becoming a man and making you a better person than you already are.”

As a junior, in only seven games while playing in the 8-man Mission Trail League, Keyshawn ran for 1,100 yards and 21 touchdowns, along with three receiving TDs and four kickoff returns to the house.

He recommitted over the offseason by training with his cousin Kenneth Walker III, a wide receiver out of UCLA who signed as an undrafted free agent with Jacksonville Jaguars, but is currently a free agent.

Keyshawn also worked out with an uncle and added roughly 10 pounds to his 5-foot-11, 186-pound frame.

“He has reached a whole new level of strength and conditioning,” said Priory coach Doug Sargent, who also praised his prized pupil’s growth as a leader. “He really, really has put a lot into this season. You can see it in him and how he plays. It’s all come together almost like the perfect plan.”

Three games into the season, Keyshawn has found the end zone 16 times.

He also leads the Panthers (3-0) in rushing and tackles, with a sack and an interception on his résumé.

“I knew he would be special,” his father said. “But it’s crazy because we would always have people tell us, ‘Well, when he goes to Jr. Pee Wee, he’s not going to do it. When he goes to Pee Wee, he’s not going to do it. When he goes to high school he’s not going to do it.’ So he’s always had doubters, and now it’s the whole 8-man thing.

“I’m sure if he went to one of these bigger schools, he could do the same thing with a big line. Because the way I look at 8-man, if you’re the guy that you know is going to get the ball, you’ve got eight guys that are coming at you every play. And he’s still beating them.”

The 17-year-old exhibits almost uncanny instincts and vision to weave his way through defenders, which is why his teammates learned not to stop blocking the moment that Keyshawn touches the ball.

“All of his long touchdown runs where he’s going back and forth, you’ll see the other seven guys, including the quarterback, downfield blocking for him because they know he could be anywhere,” said Sargent, who described Keyshawn as a student of the game. “It’s fun to watch and it’s really hard to keep him from scoring.”

“It’s going to be hard to slow him down,” said his father, who does his best to keep football out of the conversation at the dinner table, and certainly doesn’t push for information on Priory’s game plan. “The goal is if he scores, you just can’t let everybody else score around him, because that’s what makes it turn into a rout.”

He added: “Keyshawn is one of a kind. We’ll do the best we can to contain him.”

If there’s a stigma attached with playing 8-man football, it hasn’t dissuaded a handful of colleges. His father mentioned that a recruiting coordinator from Cal recently reached out, among other schools.

“It’s a day-by-day kind of situation,” said Keyshawn, who attended camps such as Nike’s The Opening to increase his recruiting profile and was invited to play in the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl at the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Jan. 6. “We just keep sending them tapes from every game, they’re liking it, and we’re just slowly but surely waiting for that offer to come.”

For now, the Ashford family can only worry about Friday’s showdown.

“It’s crazy, because I know most of his players — I grew up with them,” said Keyshawn, who’s looking forward to the rematch in two weeks.

“There’s going to be a lot of family and close relatives,” he added. “And a lot of people from my school can see how family comes together in East Palo Alto.”

That includes his mother, who will be rooting for Priory and not her husband while wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon character of Keyshawn.

“That’s what she’s supposed to, that’s her son,” his father said. “At the end of the day, she’s doing what she needs to do as a mother cheering for her son. There’s no animosity.”

“He knows this is just competition, and that’s what the whole team is talking about — it’s all gas, no brakes,” Keyshawn said. “That’s our motto now at Priory — all gas, no brakes. I told my dad, ‘Whatever happens, happens. And overall we’re still going to be father and son.’ ”

Vytas Mazeika is a sports reporter at The Daily News based out of Menlo Park. He covers athletics at every level, from high school to Stanford to the pros. He also designs the sports pages and copy edits for The Daily News print edition. Mazeika graduated from Carlmont High in 1994 and earned an English bachelor's degree from UCLA.